A New Day

"Its okay, maybe I can teach how to guess if people are supernormal sometime." She smiles kindly, "right now, though, you should probably get some sleep."

Damien lays back down, and, despite still being a little shaken from his dream, tries to go back to sleep.

"Damien, hey, it's time to get up." Damien's eyes open to the sight of his father's face above his own, the smell of sizzling bacon, the dim light of early morning streaming through the window, and the feel of his father's strong hand on his shoulder, shaking him into consciousness.

"Breakfast is almost ready," comes Darla's voice from the other room, her American drawl making her sound exotic. "Hope you like bacon and eggs."

"School's in about an hour," says Damien's father. "You'd better get a move on."

Robbing his bleary eyes, Damien says, "Uh huh, yeah, I'm coming."

The sound of Darla's voice filters its way into his mind. A part of his mind is asking who belongs to this voice, and what she's doing in his house. Another part of his mind is registering that the feel of the bed and the room is wrong, and that he's not at home at all.

Then all of his mind remembers the previous day.

Sitting bolt upright, Damien's eyes pop wide open as he looks around in a slight panic. Quickly seeing only his fater present, he feels foolish.

"Um, is it safe for me to go to school?" he asks his father in a small voice.

Mr. Morris' foreheard furrows in confusion. "You know," he says, "the police didn't say. I really ought to do into work today, I mean, I've got a lot to do, and well, if I'm there, what are you going to do?"

"He could spend the day with me," says Darla, "It's really him who's considered to be in danger. My day's already been allocated to staying with him if necessary, actually."

Damien nods, feeling a little better. A thought still worries him, though. He turns to Darla and says, "Are you sure Dad should go to work? I mean, the... er, vandals took the pens with his work address on it when the wrecked the house. What if they look for him there?"

"Well, Damien *does* has a point there, Mr. Morris," says Darla, her American accent kicking in hard. "You know, you could always spend the day with us."

Damien nods. "Yeah, dad, do that. These bad guys are really bad, and they might look for you at work."

"Well, I'll have to call in and see if they can manage without me."

[Mr. Morris on phone]
"Hey, this is . . ."

"Yeah, yeah, you told me already, look, would it be all right if I took the day off?"

"Yeah."

"Mmhmm."

"Are you sure?"

[hangs up the phone]
"Huh. I've got the day off. What should we do with our free day, eh?"

[---]

"There's a meeting at the library we should attend at noon," says Darla.
"I need to be there and you two need to be with me, so . . ."

"Oh," Damien says. He says the next words very slowly, hoping that nobody will realize that he's trying to get away with something. "So... I guess I can't go to school today then, huh?"

"No, but it got you up, didn't it?" says his father, smiling. "Of course you're not going to school today, I decided that last night. I'm sure we'll find a tutor or something to help you with your studies."

[Darla]
"Any ideas what you'd like to do with your day?"

[Perry]
[OOC: Rob, I'd recommend taking a look at the Fun in Vancouver link from the NPBEM home page :) it's there as a player support for self-directed PC activities, in terms of information related to the in-game environment. While I have arranged that your character will meet up with the other PCs at noon, to help ensure that the party doesn't go too long being split, in the meanwhile I don't really care if Damien hooks back up with them or does some "solo adventuring" on his own (with Dad and Darla - (heh heh D&D)).
I'd even say that you're free to write for Damien's father here, if you want. IIRC, Damien probably has Jezreel's home phone # and certainly has access to the Police Station phone # if he wants to call Michnelion.]

[Charybdis]

OOC: Actually, Jezreel will be paging you soon... Or at least paging Darla... She's just waiting until she gets home to do so... She wants to talk to you about her father... (Well, okay *wants* isn't the right word, but... ) But she hasn't yet joined the cellular generation... Something about her mom not thinking an 11 year old really *needs* a cellular.. But as soon as Fury gives her a ride home , Jezreel will be calling Damien... If nothing else comes up plotwise first, that is.

This is what Damien will do... wait to be called by Jezreel :)

OOC: And therefore, he'll just go along with his father and Darla in the meanwhile? Ok. :)

[Darla]
"Well, what you want to do, Brandon?"

[Mr. Morris]
"Uh . . ." Damien's father looks a little perplexed. "I guess we could go to Chinatown, I haven't been there in years."

[Darla]
"Chinatown it is! But first eat this, would ya?" She says, placing two hot, steaming plates of pancakes, waffles and american bacon on the small table."

Realizing that he's actually rather hungry, Damien looks up at Darla, says enthusiastically, "Thanks!", and proceeds to demolish the breakfast as only an adolsecent can.

After Darla and Damien's father have joined in and eaten to their fill (much to Damien's suurprise as his father hasn't eaten more than a banana or pop tart for breakfast in *years*), the feeling in the room becomes one of heavy satisfaction.

"To Chinatown we go?" suggests Darla.

Damien's father nods encouragingly. Suddenly, Darla's beeper goes off! She looks down at the device, examining it for a moment. "Guess I'd better make a phone call, hold on boys."

Darla steps up to the phone and punches in the number.